As you’re in the midst of fine-tuning your holiday strategy, remember that how you attract customers is as important as where you direct them on your store. Online merchants can find themselves thinking along the lines of “As long as enough people come to my store, my odds of selling them something becomes higher.” The natural traffic that events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday produce can fuel this mindset further. Merchants may decline any sort of “strategy” at all, preferring instead to just wait on the flock of holiday-deal-seeking customers to show up. The reason why this is so dangerous is because 1.) How will your customers even know you have something special to offer them, and 2.) If they do show up, where exactly do you want them to go?

Get the word out ahead of time.

Think of your holiday strategy as a dialogue-- a literal conversation that you’re having with your customers. Starting the conversation the day before the sale endangers your efforts of becoming lost among the crowd. Instead, prime the pump. Let customers know via social media, newsletters, and on-site messaging that you’re preparing something cool for them. Be careful not to hit them over the head with too much info. The idea is to get your brand inside their head before the post-Thanksgiving madness begins.

Actually prepare something cool for them.

As you’re seeding the narrative with your customers, you should be busy constructing the actual sales pages that you’re eventually going to direct them to. Don’t assume that a customer is going to want to browse your entire store to find the best sales. Make it easy for them by having a specific sales page. It’s okay to have other links or even pagination to list more products. The main rule is to not make your customer think too much. Remember to advertise your deals page throughout your site, and not just on your homepage. Merchandising tools like site-wide banners are very effective for this.

Then act on your plan.

When Black Friday and Cyber Monday hit, you need to send out the best-looking newsletters possible to your subscribers. Sending out cheesy, home-grown newsletters are not going to cut it against the first class branded marketing that bigger retailers are certain to offer. While you’re at it, make sure your social media is exploding with holiday charm. You’re not just competing with other stores in your industry—you’re competing against anyone that wants to get a big piece of your customer’s ever-shrinking holiday budget.

It’s time to get excited and pro-active! Get the word out while you’re getting your site ready so that you can capitalize on the results later. One of my favorite lines is “Prepare the fields for harvest.” Do everything you can to earn a fantastic holiday-harvest!

See ya next time!